Commentary on zinc and zinc concentrate market

摘要

China's domestic zinc concentrate market this year is much better than last year. And because of the high prices, some mlnlag companies hold on to their stocks, so there shall be a moderate level of concentrate stocks. It is not hard for domestic smelters to get concentrate supply from domestic market as long as they have enough flow cash. The price of zinc concentrate remains strong, representing over 75 percent of the ingot price. And the import of concentrate in the first quarter witnessed an obvious decrease off the same period last year, which drove up the treatment charge for Imported concentrate. The treatment charge is now around 95-105 US dollars/t, compared with 15-20 US dollars/t in March, and domestic smelters are not active to Import concentrate.